New Year's Eve
by pikapikatchu
Summary: A few weeks before New Year's Eve, Greg arranges a blind date for one of his friends
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys!**

**This is just a very short story (never thought I could manage to do one, mine usually seem to go on forever! :) ) I started writing a few days before Christmas. I planned this as my little Christmas treat to all of you :) but didn't have enough time to finish it. So now it's a New Year's Eve treat. I hope you enjoy it and have a great New Year's Eve yourselves!**

**See you in 2012!**

**Big Love,**

**pikapikatchu**

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><p>"Come ooooon, Nick! She said she's only coming if I get her friend a date!" Greg begged Nick for days, and he was only getting more determined to persuade him.<p>

Nick rolled his eyes. "I don't know, man, a blind date?"

"Yeah. It'll be fun! And trust me, her friend's hot!"

"Then why does she need you to get a date?" They were walking down the lab's hallway as they kept talking.

"I don't know, maybe she's shy... Or boring. Does it matter? You'd help me out!" Greg met a girl two weeks ago and she kept asking him to set her best friend up with one of his friends. By the description, he thought she was perfect for Nick.

"Help you out how?" Hodges asked as they walked into the A/V lab.

"What are you doing in here? And where's Archie?" Greg asked confused.

"I'm doing Russell a favor. And I have no idea where he is, but I'm waiting for him, too. So what favor?"

"Nothing..." Greg replied, fearing Hodges would do anything to get the date.

"Actually..." Nick patted Greg on the back. "He needs a guy for a double date."

"You wanna date me...?" Hodges asked with a wary look on his face.

"God, no," Greg replied.

"I don't think you're his type," Nick said laughing. "But his girlfriend's friend needs a guy. How 'bout it?"  
>"I hate you..." Greg whispered to Nick.<p>

"Sure! When's the date?" Hodges was delighted to hear about this.

Greg sighed. There was no way out. "...Friday night, 8 p.m."

"You see, guys? This is why I keep doing favors for my superiors! I need to take the day off, I'm sure Russell will return the favor!"

"Yeah, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact you're a brown-nosing opportunist," Greg replied annoyed. Him and Hodges were friends – kind of – but that didn't change the fact that he was annoying sometimes.

* * *

><p>Date night arrived. Greg introduced Hodges to Holly, his date for the night. She really was beautiful. Dark brown hair and eyes, smoking hot body, she was everything Hodges could hope for and more. "Wow," he said under his breath when he saw her.<p>

"Try not to embarrass me, will ya?" Greg said nervously. Greg's date, Dina, was a beautiful woman, too. He only knew her for a few weeks and tried his best to impress her. They weren't a couple yet, they were just dating. They went to the movies and had dinner afterwards. So far it was going good. Things would change quickly, though.

"So, two weeks 'till Christmas," Hodges said at the dinner table. "Who knows, maybe the four of us can celebrate together!"

The girls were laughing, but Greg gave him a look, knowing this wasn't a joke but a poor attempt to ask charming to spend Christmas together. He kept making allusions like that, and Holly quickly noticed he wasn't joking. Things started going downhill from there.

At the end of the night, the girls seemed to be in a hurry to get home. They left Greg and Hodges at the restaurant taking a cab home.

"Wow... Holly's great!" Hodges exclaimed.

Greg rolled his eyes. "Too bad you won't see her again."

"What do you mean? I think she's into me!"

"What the hell makes you think that? You scared her away... And Dina! Neither of us will see them again, thanks to you!" Greg started walking away from Hodges.

He quickly followed. "...You think?"

"You can't talk about making vacation plans with a woman you just met. What the hell? She thinks you're crazy. And Dina thinks I'm crazy for setting you up with her!"

"...Really?"

"Really!"

"...Dammit, Greg! Why didn't you stop me?"

"Excuse me?"

Hodges was furious. "I thought we were clear about this! You help me with this stuff!"

He sighed. "There's only so much I can do..."

"You're a bad wingman... Well maybe the next time it'll go better..."

"The next...?" Greg saw the look on Hodges' face. He was really depressed that it didn't work. Now he was feeling bad for him. "Yeah, the next time will work out better." He patted him on the shoulder as they walked away from the restaurant, heading home.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, look who's here!" Hodges said, sitting on his chair in the trace lab.

Greg was standing next to him. "Who's this guy? I don't remember his name," he said jokingly.

Nick came in, rolling his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I know, I know. I didn't have too much time for you lately." It has been over two weeks since the double date. Nick took a few days off and didn't even call Greg. They didn't have any contact for almost two weeks.

"Where have you been? Texas?" Hodges asked interested. He was more nosy, though.

Nick laughed a bit. "No, I was in Vegas."

Greg raised an eyebrow. He knew Nick. There were only so many reasons for him to disappear for a few days. "Who is she?"

"What?" Nick laughed.

"Spill it, Nick. You're in Vegas and don't even call, there must be a woman involved!"

Nick rolled his eyes with a big smile on his face. "Just because your love lives are non-existence doesn't mean you have a right to intrude mine!"

Hodges laughed. "Come on, you would brag with it in a few weeks, why not tell us now?"

Nick was at the end of his shift, while Hodges and Greg just started work. He looked at his watch. "Alright... She's actually picking me up from the lab in a few minutes so... If you want to see her you got your chance."

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><p>Nick was about to leave the lab and Hodges and Greg did their best to have time to take a look at Nick's girlfriend. Greg even avoided Russell to sneak out of the lab and Hodges just walked out and took a coffee break. They tried to look as casual as possible when they walked a few feet behind Nick, waiting for the woman.<p>

She arrived, finally. "Hey Nick!" She walked up to him to give him a kiss. "Are you ready?"

"Sure, just a minute. I'd like you to meet some friends." He walked her to Greg and Hodges.

"...H-Hey..." Hodges said, reaching out his hand to her.

"...I didn't know you were colleagues..." she replied surprised.

"You know each other?" Nick asked.

Greg walked close to Nick to whisper to him. "That's Holly, the girl I set Hodges up with..."

"Wow..." Nick said. He didn't know what else to say.

"So... How... uh, have you been?" Hodges said embarrassed. He obviously didn't know what else to say, either.

"Will you excuse us for a moment?" Holly said to Nick, walking away with Hodges.

They came back a few moments later, with Hodges' embarrassed look appearing even stronger on his face.

"Well then... Let's go..." Nick put his hand on Holly's back and walked away with her.


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't believe him!" Hodges said furious while walking back into the trace lab.

"Calm down, it's no big deal. She wasn't interested in you but seems to like him. Good for him." Greg tried to talk some sense into him. He felt like Hodges was exaggerating completely.

"What happened to 'bros before hoes, huh?' " Hodges said a bit calmed down. He sat down on his chair and stared at a piece of paper.

"What's this?" Greg asked,

"...Nothing..." He put his hand behind his back.

Greg raised an eyebrow... "Alright... I don't need to know..." As he walked pass him, he grabbed the piece of paper out of his hand.

"Hey, give it back!"

"Aha!" Greg exclaimed. "Wait, no, I have no idea what this is..." It had a phone number written on it.

Hodges rolled his eyes and grabbed the paper out of Greg's hands. "It's just somebody's number... I'm thinking about calling."

"And whose is it?"

"Well... Let me ask you a question... How bad do you think cheating is when you're not the one cheated on but the one cheating...?"

Greg gave Hodges a confused look, but then realized. "This is Holly's number!"

"What?" Hodges laughed nervously. "No it's not. It's this pizza... place... you... talked about..."

"She's with Nick now, she doesn't even like you. Throw it away and go on with your life!"

"Then why did she just give me her number, kiss me and told me to call later?" Hodges had the look of a winner on his face.

"...She did not."

"Yes she did! She wants me! And this here... is proof!" He held up the piece of paper victoriously.

Again, Greg grabbed it out of his hands. "You can't do this, Nick's your friend. I'll flush this down the toilet..."

When he turned around to walk out, Hodges came at him, throwing himself on his back, grabbing his hand. "No you don't!"

"Let go of me! You can't do that to him!"

"He won't have to know about it!"

As they kept jostling for that paper, screaming and shouting loud enough for the whole lab to hear, Russell walked in. "What the hell's going on in here?"

Greg had his hand on Hodges' face, trying to keep him away from him, and Hodges had his hands on Greg's shoulder. They both stopped.

"What the hell are you doing? Break it off!"

"I won't let go until he does!" Hodges said angrily.

Greg rolled his eyes and let go of him, pushing him back without much force. He still had the paper with Holly's number in his hand.

"What the hell is this about? And where have you two been?" Russell was really angry. He had zero tolerance for that kind of behavior.

"Well, I was on break and..."

"I was busy with..." They said at the same moment. It was hard for Russell to hear what each of them said.

"What's this?" Russell pointed at the paper.

Greg sighed. "Nick's dating this girl and she gave Hodges her number..."

"And you want to call her?"

Hodges nodded.

"And you don't want him to call?"

Greg nodded.

"Alright... Greg, hand it back. He's a grown man, it's not up to you to make decisions for him."

Greg looked annoyed, but handed it back. Hodges had a big grin on his face.

"And you. How the hell dare you even think about calling that girl?"

"But you just said..."

"You're allowed to make your decisions yourself, but I have the right to tell you you're about to make a big mistake!" Russell almost yelled at him. "Instead of calling her, call Nick and tell him what his new girlfriend is up to!"

Both Hodges and Greg looked down the ground. Greg had to admit to himself, he didn't think about telling Nick.

Russell sighed. "Greg. Come!" He walked out.


	4. Chapter 4

Greg had to do a lot of chores Russell didn't want to do himself. He liked punishing him that way when he did something Russell didn't agree with. That little fight with Hodges sure would fall under that category. He even had to work a crime scene too disgusting to put in words. He arrived back at the lab all dirty. After taking a long, hot shower, he walked by the trace lab. Hodges was sitting in there with a rather thoughtful look on his face. "Hey. Are you alright?"

Hodges shrug his shoulders. He was staring at his cell phone.

"You did the right thing."

"I didn't do anything... Yet. I want to tell him, but..."

"You're a wuss?" Greg asked a bit unsympathetically.

"Hey, do you want to tell him the girl of his dreams wants to cheat on him?"

Greg sighed. "She's not the girl of his dreams. They know each other for a few weeks. Tell him now, it won't be as hard as it will be in another few weeks when he finds out himself."

"...Can't you do it for me?"

"Do what?" Nick walked in.

Hodges startled. Greg looked surprised.

"What are you doing here?" Hodges asked with a rather scared look on his face.

"Russell called me, he needs my help on a case."

"Right... Russell... So, how did your date go?" he asked carefully.

"It was nice..." Nick said with a smile.

"That's good, good... Gotta go!" Hodges said while patting Greg on the shoulder and hurrying out.

"Hey, you...!" Greg sighed.

Nick looked confused. "Is he angry with me because I'm going out with Holly?"

"Yeah, but that's not why he was in such a hurry... There's something I need to tell you..."


	5. Chapter 5

Greg told Nick about Holly hitting on Hodges. At first, Nick thought it was a joke. But then he believed him. He decided to ask her about it, see what she has to say. Maybe there was an explanation, he hoped. But of course, there wasn't. She claimed it never happened. Nick chose to believe his friends more than her and ended the relationship. He was single again. The disappointment was obvious in his face the next day at work.

"How are you holding up?" Greg asked while they were sitting in the break room.

Nick nodded. "It's better to know now than later... Though I wish there wasn't anything to know. And now I have nothing to do on New Year's Eve."

Hodges walked in, he heard that last sentence. "You two were going to spend New Year's Eve together?"

"Sure."

"After you know her for a few weeks? And you told me it was too early to make plans for Christmas together!" he said outraged to Greg.

"That's not the same, Hodges..." Greg rolled his eyes.

"We spent Christmas together, too..." Nick replied a bit nostalgic.

Hodges gave Greg an annoyed look. "Well, don't feel too bad. I don't have any plans for New Year's Eve, either." He had a sad look on his face now, too.

"That's... You're both pathetic, you know that?" Greg was getting fed up with them being sorrowful about this woman. He was sad about Dina, too, but didn't want to let it bring him down. "It's not the end of the world. You want to make plans for that night? Then do it, but don't walk around here all devastated because of a woman you both should be glad to be rid of!"

Hodges shrug his shoulder. "But she was hot... And wanted me!"

Nick rolled his eyes. "She only wanted you because she was with me."

"That doesn't make you look too good, huh?" He gave him an evil grin.

Nick got up. "You better give me a good reason not to beating the shit out of him now, Greg!" He was standing in front of Hodges, looking down at him.

Hodges looked up a bit scared. "What, you're gonna hit me now?" He laughed a bit nervously.

Greg rolled his eyes and got up. "You two are unbelievable." He walked out.

Hodges got more scared. "Hey, hey! Where are you going?"

"Good, no witnesses," Nick said laughing.

* * *

><p>New Year's Eve arrived.<p>

Of course, Nick didn't beat Hodges. But he really wanted to. Instead, they both decided to never talk about Holly again, but both were thinking about her today. They decided to work that night. Russell gave them the night off when they both thought they could spend the night with Holly, but they thought it would be better to work than sit around at home, regretting the fact that they both lost her.

A few minutes close to midnight, both were in the trace lab, talking about some results Nick needed for a case.

"Guys! The break room, now," Catherine said with a big smile on her face.

Neither one of them had realized it was almost midnight. They walked in, not knowing why they were supposed to be there. When they walked in, almost everybody working tonight was standing in there with a glass of champagne in their hand, wearing a party hat and enjoying themselves.

Mandy walked up to them and handed either one a party hat and a glass. "No discussion, you have to wear it!"

Greg walked up to them. "Isn't this better than spending the night with a girl you just met?" He patted Nick on the back.

"Right now... I wouldn't want to be anyplace else." Nick gave him an appreciative smile. They mingled under their colleagues and friends.

Only a few seconds 'till midnight.

They all were looking at the clock on the wall, counting down the last 10 seconds to the New Year.

"10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."


End file.
